Motor vehicles having four-wheel steering systems are typically defined by a set of front wheels that are steerable in unison with each other and a set of rear wheels that are likewise steerable in unison with each other. The control of the direction and angle of the steering movement of the rear steerable wheels is dependent upon steering wheel angle and the speed of travel of the motor vehicle. When steering the motor vehicle at low speeds, the rear wheels are generally steered out-of-phase or in the opposite direction of the front wheels, thereby enabling the motor vehicle to articulate turns of a small radius. When steering the motor vehicle at high speeds, the rear wheels are generally steered in-phase or in the same direction of the front wheels. When maneuvering near obstacles, the rear of the vehicle may swing out more than anticipated and collide with nearby objects. Therefore a means of limiting the swing out of a rear wheel steering vehicle is desired.
A method of swing out compensation in a vehicle with rear wheel steering, comprising: obtaining a zero speed status signal representative of when a vehicle is at zero speed; establishing a rear wheel angle threshold; obtaining a calculated rear wheel angle; and generating a commanded rear wheel angle responsive to the rear wheel angle threshold and the calculated rear wheel angle, whichever is of smaller magnitude.
A swing out compensation system for a vehicle with rear wheel steering, the system comprising: a controller; and a rear steering mechanism in communication with and responsive to the controller; wherein the controller generates a commanded rear wheel angle responsive to one of a rear wheel angle threshold and a calculated rear wheel angle, whichever is of smaller magnitude.
A storage medium encoded with a machine-readable computer program code for rear wheel swing out compensation of a vehicle, the storage medium including instructions for causing controller to implement the abovementioned method.
A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave for rear wheel swing out compensation of a vehicle, the computer data signal comprising code configured to cause a controller to implement the abovementioned method.